Faith
by daily-chan
Summary: Arthur had no idea what would lie ahead for him, what trails he would have to face. But he knew he wouldn’t have to face it alone. A Arthur/Merlin friendship piece


_**Faith**_

_**Disclaimer:**_

_**I do not own Merlin or any of its characters…if I did Arthur and Merlin would be a couple and Gwen would disappear with Lancelot!**_

_**Pairing: Arthur/Merlin friendship, could be seen as more if liked :D**_

_**Rating: Teenager…just to be safe**_

_**Warnings:**__** Writers block, Slight spoilers for season 2 **_

_**This takes place after Lady of the lake….and before any other episode of season 2 after that :P**_

**_Oh, Baerne is an actual word from Merlin. He uses it to start the fire in Ealdor in Season 1. i read the right pronouncing in the adventures of Merlin, the complete guide ^^_**

_**I used spell check and a beta…but I'm not sure my beta actually read it cause I took out many errors myself afterwards…if you spot a major error…please let me know and I'll try to make it vanish asap.**_

_**For Ra-chan, my little imouto-chan, hope you'll like it slightly :D**_

**_Faith_**

A strong wind had picked up forcefully as a storm travelled over the woods. Icy cold rain soaked the trees as they moved rapidly in the wind, giving what few sheltering people outside an extra shower of rain over them.

Animals had fled into their warm and save holes in the ground and people took shelter in their own homes by a warm fire to dry their clothes.

All, except one.

In the centre of the forest were a beautiful lake, usually very calm and the water undisturbed.

But now in the storm the water moved up in waves that crashed into the grass, far from where the lake ended.

On that same grass stood a young man, still a boy, unmoving in the fierce wind that did its best to overtake him by its power but the young man remained standing on his spot.

His dark hair was soaked but didn't get a chance to stick to his skull as it moved in all directions in the wind.

Sky blue eyes were half closed to shield them from the rain and the thin layer of clothes did nothing to protect him from the cold rain.

But not even his shivering could get him to move from his spot and it had been several hours ago since he had arrived on that spot, but he had jet to move. Even if he knew he'd have to take responsibility when he returned to the castle it wasn't enough to make him move.

He was lost in his thoughts, in his fragile memories and didn't hear the footsteps close in on him in the forest.

"Merlin! What are you doing in this rain?" A familiar voice more screamed then said to be heard over the storm and a soaked blond appeared behind him.

When he didn't react Arthur moved further to appear in his line of vision, thinking he hadn't heard him due to the storm.

"Arthur, what are you doing here?" Merlin's voice was too soft for Arthur to hear in the storm but he got what Merlin meant anyway and rolled his eyes.

"The messengers couldn't find you when I was looking for you." He answered loudly and Merlin blinked slowly.

"Oh…I was gathering plants for Gaius."

Arthur nodded impatiently at Merlin's slow reactions and made a move to get into the shelter of the trees when he was his servant didn't move a muscle.

"What is wrong with you?" He shouted as he turned back to his dark-haired friend.

"Nothing…just thinking."

"Can't you save what little brain you have left to use in a drier place?" When Merlin didn't react again and just stared ahead at the lake Arthur grabbed his arm and turned him to him.

"What is wrong with you?" Arthur called out as he shook Merlin. He blinked as he felt the coldness of the other's body.

"Merlin…" He trailed off as Merlin's legs gave out from under him and he sank onto his knees. Arthur didn't let go of him or attempt to pull him up as he simple let himself sink down as well, still holding Merlin's arms.

He removed one of his arms to shield his eyes from the heavy rain so he could look at the dark-haired male and was shocked to find water running over his to pale cheeks that were most likely not from the rain.

"What is wrong with you Merlin?" Arthur whispered as he moved his hand to Merlin's face and made him look up to him, not entirely surprised to see the sadness in those blue eyes anymore.

Merlin shook his head, his face pale and near exhaustion.

"Nothing's wrong. I just….I…" More tears fell down from his eyes and Arthur sighed as he trailed off again.

"Clearly nothing." He said but could see Merlin wouldn't start talking anytime soon.

He looked around till he spotted a cave and turned back to his servant.

"Come on…we need to move somewhere dry." He said softly and though Merlin probably couldn't hear him the boy still nodded slowly and Arthur pulled him up along with him and wrapped an arm around Merlin's frail figure to shield him slightly from the heavy rainfall.

Merlin was mostly dead weight to him and for a brief moment Arthur had to resist the urge to throw him over his shoulder to be able to move more quickly.

But he managed to keep the urge an urge and moved Merlin slowly to the spot he had seen.

It looked more like half of the rock had broken off somehow then a cave but Arthur couldn't really care what it was as it would keep the rain and wind away from them.

He made Merlin sit against the rock so he was completely shielded from everything and quickly collected some wood together to make a small fire.

He moved two sticks together to try and get the wed wood to smoke but before he could get far Merlin's cold and pale hand touched his moving hands.

"To wet." He said softly. Arthur looked over his shoulder a little irritated.

"So are we. We will get sick if we don't get a fire started." He snapped but immediately regretted it when he saw Merlin's clouded half closed eyes.

"You're already sick." He more stated then asked as he moved to Merlin and laid his hand on his forehead but he was to wet and cold to be able to feel for a fever.

"Baerne." Merlin mumbled as he leaned to the warm hand on his face, seemingly not caring it was Arthur he was leaning into that familiarly.

Arthur's eyes widened as he both felt the sudden rush of warmth spreading behind them and the flash of gold in Merlin's eyes before the hand he had moved forward fell onto his lap.

With a gasp Arthur withdrew his hand as if he had burned himself and moved back from Merlin's still form as he slid down a bit against the wall.

"You….Magic…." Arthur stuttered as he stared at his servant in horror. But almost as immediately as he had pulled back he moved to his side again when Merlin kept sliding down with no intention to keep himself from falling and Arthur managed to catch him just before he reached the ground.

"We'll deal with that later." Arthur more said to himself then Merlin as he forced all thoughts about Merlin using magic to the back of his head and pulled Merlin's mostly unresponsive form to the strongly burning fire and felt the heat it radiated.

He looked at his own soaked clothing and then to Merlin's, knowing he'd have to remove it.

"I take it you have no spell to say to dry our clothes?" He asked sarcastically, trying to push back the anger he felt at Merlin's actions. Now really wasn't the time.

Merlin didn't react to his harsh words as he moved his hand a little so it was touching Arthur's clothing and muttered a few words Arthur didn't catch and immediately he felt his cloths dry up completely.

He didn't miss the disappearing gold in Merlin's normally blue eyes before they closed completely as he stared at him.

"Just how much magic do you know?" He asked softly as he could finally see and feel the fever on Merlin's normally pale face.

He carefully took his servants neckerchief off and wetted it in the rain before he moved Merlin's head into his lap and moved the wet cloth over the flushed face.

As he tried to cool his servant off he let his mind wander to what he had seen.

Merlin had been using magic, twice in front of him. And although Arthur now realized Merlin probably wasn't even aware he had done so it also made him afraid.

If his dark-haired servant could do things like this without blinking, just how powerful was he then when he was actually alert?

He stared down at the still face in his lap and kept moving the wet cloth. Merlin looked so innocent and fragile right now, even more then he normally did and Arthur realized he couldn't be afraid of this boy…his servant.

He couldn't be afraid of the one person that had always stood by him no matter what and had saved his life at least twice, probably even more often then he knew he realized with slight shock as he remembered all the weird things that had happened to him and he come out of unscratched.

He stared at Merlin's face as he let a small smile creep over his face.

"You really are the most…utterly…incompetent…idiotic, most loyally foolish person I have ever met." He said, but he knew his voice sounded affective and for once he didn't care.

"But I'm glad I can call you mine."

He whispered as he rewetted the cloth and let it rest on Merlin's forehead.

He sat in silence as he stared at the magical fire for a long time, taking care of Merlin till the fever dropped and waited for Merlin to wake up.

When he finally stirred he slowly moved his hands up and rubbed his eyes with a yawn.

"So you're finally awake." Arthur said; a bit softer then normally and Merlin blinked.

"Arthur?" He asked as he realized where he was and immediately moved from Arthur.

"Where are we?" He asked as he looked around before his eyes fell upon the lake behind them and his eyes immediately clouded again.

"You were standing like a statue in the rain, completely so I took us here and then you collapsed." Arthur explained as he paid close attention to Merlin's actions.

Merlin nodded to the explanation, taking it without question before his gaze fell upon the fire.

"You managed to get a fire going with that rain?" He asked surprised.

"No, you lit it." Arthur answered dryly and Merlin looked at him confused.

"But you said I was out of it…I couldn't have lit that fire." No sooner then the confused words had left his mouth or he realized they were the absolute wrong ones and he paled considerably.

"No you couldn't. So I'm pretty curious…to why you kept something like that hidden from me." Arthur asked as he looked directly at his servant.

"It's…not…I …You…your father…" Merlin stuttered as he back more away from Arthur and turned even more pale then Arthur had ever thought was possible for a person.

"Calm down Merlin, I'm not going to turn you in." Merlin blinked at his words.

"Your not?" He asked perplex.

"No." And Arthur knew it was true. He was raised with his father's views of magic and had always believed it was an evil force.

But since Merlin had come into his life he had various encounters with magic and had realized that not all magic was evil.

He remembered that Merlin had once told him that not the magic itself, but the person using it was what caused it to be good or evil.

Back then he hadn't really believed him, but now he was certain that he was right.

There was no doubt in Merlin's loyalty towards him through all their adventures together and he knew the dark-haired servant would never hurt him.

He looked at Merlin again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked and realized that was what hurt the most, that Merlin hadn't trusted him enough to tell him about something like that.

"I wanted to…but…"

"But what?"

"Your father isn't exactly magic accepting…and you've told me on numerous occasions that you think magic is bad and …I'm just scared."

Arthur looked at Merlin again.

"You were afraid of what? You have magic; I bet you'd be able to whip us all out within a blink of the eye if you wanted to."

Merlin winced at his words before he shook his head.

"I'm not afraid for me, if I'd die protecting you then I wouldn't care. Gaius, Morgana, my mum, you… I have no doubt Uther would kill them all if he found out about my magic."

He took a deep breath and his eyes watered again.

"Gwen, mum and Gaius already almost got killed because of my mistakes… the idea of anything happening to them…I… Will…Freya….I just…" He trailed off as tears fell down his cheeks.

Arthur wanted to ask what had happened to them, but he remembered when Gwen and Gaius had been accused of witchcraft and how upset Merlin had been and his devotion to get them free. He also knew Hunith had been deadly ill at the castle during the time he himself had been struck down by the Questing Beast. At the time he hadn't realized it but he now knew Merlin had to do with his recovery like he was probably involved in most of the fights he had miraculously won.

He also knew Merlin's friend Will had died shortly after declaring he had been the one doing magic and knew he had been trying to protect his friend.

He had no idea who Freya was but the tears Merlin spilled told him enough to not ask about it.

"Why did you go to the lake?" He asked softly as he placed a hand on Merlin's shoulder.

Merlin didn't look at him as his gaze was still at the lake.

"I left her here." He answered barely above a whisper and Arthur just knew he was referring to this Freya person.

With a sigh he used his hand on Merlin's shoulder to pull him into a awkward hug but Merlin didn't seem to notice as his fingers took a hold of his shirt and he cried openly now against Arthur's shoulder.

On instinct Arthur whispered comforting words to his servant and he softly rubbed his back and as his servant eventually cried himself to sleep Arthur kept holding him, knowing something had changed between them.

How could he ever fear or doubt someone as naïve and innocent as this warlock.

No.

He would always have faith his naïve, idiotic good for nothing servant.

And Arthur had no idea what would lie ahead for him, what kind of trails they would have to go through and what fortune or misfortune would lie ahead of him.

But he knew he wouldn't have to face it alone. He was never alone as long as he had Merlin by his side.

The end

_**Okay…I realize it completely and utterly sucks. I was going for something dark and mysterious…I failed so badly.**_

_**And I realize I probably should have made Merlin explain to Arthur who Freya is….but I'm writing this because I want to attempt to give my little imouto-chan a gift, and she hasn't been able to see season 2 yet…so…I don't want to spoil T-T**_

_**Please let me know what you think of it…don't throw flames at me…I'm not fire resistant T-T**_

_**Reviews are loved!**_


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